Back Again
by thebookworm17
Summary: Harry returns to Hogwarts for his eighth year after a summer of revelations about himself, hoping to end old grudges. This is a short Drarry one shot rated T for language.


_A/N Okay ladies and gentlemen I haven't written anything properly in months, maybe even years so this could be shite but it's the first Drarry fic I've ever written. Please enjoy.._

Back Again

Harry grinned over at his best mates; at Ron as he attempted to inhale half the food on the Gryffindor table alone and at Hermione who watched on looking half disgusted and half impressed.

"How can you still be hungry, you ate all those pumpkin pasties on the train here?" She asked incredulously.

The response that came from Ron was neither dignified nor English but Harry just about made out the words 'leave', 'alone', 'growing' and 'boy'. Hermione huffed but made no further comment instead tipping up her head to look at the enchanted ceiling of the great hall. Harry followed her gaze past the millions of candles blazing in the air to the ceiling revealing a beautiful starry sky.

"it feels so good to finally be back, worth all the work over the holidays." Hermione murmured quietly.

The trio of friends had spent half of their time after the war ended cleaning up the mess Voldemort had left in his wake and that included the castle. As soon as the war ended teachers, students and volunteers alike had banded together to return Hogwarts to its former glory. This meant that for several weeks Harry, Ron and Hermione had been running all over their home, devoted to rebuilding the most damaged areas of the castle, feeling partially responsible for the mess in the first place. While Hogwarts was safe now and could function as a place of learning it was by no means back to its usual self. Harry had heard from Mrs Weasley that remaining members of the order were still coming in daily to fix the castle until it was back to its old self.

The trio had spent the other half of their holiday in the ministry of magic registering their apparition licenses and having extensive meetings with Kingsley Shacklebolt to try and stop anything like Voldemort happening again.

Since defeating Voldemort media coverage of Harry had skyrocketed, he was everywhere from front page speculation as to how Harry had defeated Voldemort, to Witch Weekly's most dashing hero. However, it had been at its worst when Rita Skeeter's photographer had followed Harry to a muggle bar. Harry particularly liked muggle bars due to the fact that no one knew him so himself, Ron and Hermione could have a fun night out without having to worry about it ending up in the newspaper and it was also very entertaining introducing Ron to muggle drinks. However, one particular evening Harry had separated himself from his friends when he had noticed a very cute guy staring at him over the top of his glass.

The summer had been a very enlightening time for Harry and as such had seen the end to Ginny and Harry's relationship. Harry realised that his preferences lay with men and he could only look at Ginny as a friend and never as anything romantic. Their spilt had been very amicable due to the fact that Ginny had realised that she too was also gay and so there had been very little change in their relationship and Harry spent lots of his holiday with her to give himself space from the almost painful couple that Hermione and Ron where during the first few months of their relationship.

During the evening at the muggle bar Harry had gotten very amorous with the cute guy, both inside the bar and outside when they had hailed a cab between kisses to get to Harry's apartment. However, when Harry woke up that morning he was greeted by Hermione making eggs in the kitchen and a very nervous looking Ron.

"Um, hi?" Harry had said, looking quizzically from Hermione to Ron.

"Hi mate, um your date, Adam I think, he already left, said he didn't like morning afters, I take it that means you evening went well." Ron said giving him a weak smile.

"Yeah, no he told me he wouldn't stay, what are you guys doing here?" He asked, very confused at the unusual situation. Hermione and Ron came over all the time but rarely did so without some prior warning.

"We have some news and we thought it would be best to break it to you nicely before the owls start arriving." Hermione said, putting a plate of scrambled eggs on toast in front of him.

"Okay?" Harry said his stomach dropping slightly.

"Well the thing is mate, you got photographed last night, with um Adam, it's all over the daily prophet. I'm so sorry mate I know you didn't want to come out just yet" Ron said sympathetically.

"Shiiiiiiit." Harry moaned. The only people that had known had been The Weasley's and Hermione.

"Let's see it then." He said and Hermione plopped the paper into his hand.

HEARTS BREAK ACROSS THE NATION AS THE BOY WHO LIVED SHOWS PREFERENCE FOR MEN!

 _Written by Rita Skeeter_

Harry Potter, dashing hero and gorgeous heartthrob was snapped last night out in muggle London tangled in an amorous embrace with man sources say Potter met at a muggle bar. The unidentifiable man was then later seen leaving Potter's apartment early in the morning. Potter has never mentioned his sexuality nor been asked about it but due to this latest development maybe more questions should be asked…

 _Continue on page 3_

Underneath had been two pictures, one of Harry and Adam kissing against a wall and another of Adam walking along the street below Harry's apartment, both in black and white and both moving. The evidence was unquestionable.

He'd been followed everywhere by reporters for weeks before he finally snapped and yelled at the crowd, "YES IM GAY GET OVER IT!" and it had been the only thing reported for weeks. Eventually Shacklebolt had threatened the newspapers that if they didn't start printing something new he'd start finning them for harassment.

Harry was brought out of his reverie by the sound of Ginny sitting next to him giggling at Ron who'd just started on a fifth pork chop only for Hermione to stare at him mouth droped open and start lecturing him on the importance of healthy eating. Scanning the room Harry looked around and over to the Slytherin table which was the saddest looking of the four. It was the most depleted of the houses with only a bunch of students returning per year group and only two new first years. Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson and Theodore Nott were the only eighth year students returning. As Harry looked over he caught a glimpse of grey eyes but Draco had immediately looked away and Harry sighed. That was the third time Malfoy had avoided his gaze, Harry had decided that House Unity was more important than ever upon re-arrival to Hogwarts and so he was determined to befriend all the Syltherins in his year, starting with Malfoy.

What didn't help Harry's wandering eyes was that Malfoy had gotten incredibly hot over the holidays. Harry had done a lot of campaigning over the holidays for Draco and his mother to be removed from prison and now that Voldemort had left his house as well he was looking much healthier. He had gained some weight so he looked less hollow and more human and he'd let his hair grow out a little and stopped slicking it back. All in all meaning that Harry couldn't deny the fact that he was fucking gorgeous.

Harry dragged his gaze away long enough to notice McGonagall push her chair away from the Teachers table at the top of the hall and wait till silence fell.

"Now that you have eaten that delicious feast it is time to depart for bed, please will the prefects show our new first years the way to your dorms. Eighth year students will find extra dorm rooms have been provided in your houses. Goodnight."

There was an almighty scraping of benches as all the students got to their feet.

"You guys go on ahead I want to sort something out." Harry said, barely waiting for a reply from either of his friends before dashing off out of the great hall in pursuit of a blonde headed student.

Harry tore down the corridor to the dungeon before finally catching site of Malfoy, ignoring the barely hushed whispers of his fellow students.

"Malfoy!" He called out and came to a stop when the blonde turned to look at him. Almost immediately his eyes narrowed and his mouth pulled down into a frown.

"What do you want Potter?" He asked coldly.

"To talk to you." He responded breathlessly.

Pansy grinned at Draco for a moment before saying, "We'll catch up with you later Drake, also sorry for trying to give you to Voldemort." She said with a grin.

"Nah its fine." He replied, he honestly didn't care. She turned away and pulled Theodore who was looking at Draco almost triumphantly.

"What do you want to talk about."

"Not here," Harry said gesturing to all the people around. "Follow me."

Harry led them down a corridor to the side and into an abandoned classroom, shutting the door after Draco had entered and turning to look at him.

"Look I know it's stupid but I want to bury this stupid hatchet we seem to have with each other."

Draco turned to Harry with eyebrows raised.

"That's not what I thought you were going to say."

At Harry's quizzical look he elaborated.

"I thought you were going to remind me that I owe you."

"Owe me, owe me what?"

"Potter you saved my life in the room of requirement and then kept me out of jail. That's a life debt and then some."

"Well you saved my life at Malfoy manner, you knew it was me, you must've done and if not you must've realised I'd be with Ron and Hermione, so you helped me. And I didn't keep you out of jail your own war crimes were significantly smaller than anyone else's and you really can't be blamed for joining Voldemort if he was threatening your family. So no you don't owe me anything."

Draco said nothing but his eyes softened somewhat.

"So, agree to bury the hatchet, become friends?" Harry asked tentatively.

"Alright Potter."  
"Harry." He corrected

"Fine, Harry."

A tingle of pleasure went down Harry's spine at the sound of his name coming out of Draco's mouth.

"Right then Draco."

Harry hopped up and sat on one of the desks and was followed moments later by Draco who crossed his ankles and swung them absentmindedly. There was a gentle silence for a moment or two before it was broken by Draco.

"I can't decide if I'm happy to be back or not, I mean its Hogwarts but at the same time I'm public enemy number one, I can't work out if I'd be happier at the villa in France where no one gives a shit who I am."

"I'm definitely happy to be back, away from all the fucking cameras, at least the people here get bored of me after a while."

"They won't this time, there's a difference between making a bad guy disappear for a bit and destroying them all together and you're older now too, more sex appeal."

Harry blushed profusely at that.

"I'm sorry about that whole deal with the muggle, can't have been nice to have people speculating about you again." Draco murmured, looking him in the eyes. Harry had never noticed what a nice shade of grey they were.

"Wow, look at that, Draco Malfoy can be compassionate, I think this friendship things going to work out better than expected."  
Draco snorted.

"Better not tell Weasley, he'll have a heart attack." Draco smirked.

"Nah, he'll get used to you sooner or later." Harry murmured with a smile. "Thanks though, it wasn't my most enjoyable experience.

"How many howlers did you get?" Draco asked.

"Seven, mainly from elderly witches who thought I was perfect for their daughter and I was simply confused."

"Uh, that's what my dad first said when I told him, he doesn't exactly like it but he's just decided to ignore it now."

"I didn't know you were gay too." Harry said as calmly as he could while his heart was racing away.

He was having a civilised conversation with his ex-best enemy turned friend who was also incredibly good looking and gay. The only thought going through Harry's mind was what Draco's lips would feel against his.

"Yes well." Was Draco's rather limp response.

There was another long pause in the conversation and Draco looked like he rather wanted to say something, he kept opening his mouth and closing it again.

"Actuallyitsyourfault." Draco finally said in a rush.

"Pardon?"

"It's your fault, that I'm gay, your fucking good looking."

Harry stared at Draco in shock, his heart hammering in his chest and before he knew what he was doing his lips were crashing done on Draco's, hands sliding up into that glossy blonde hair that he had been dying to touch since he saw Draco on the train platform. Similarly, he felt hands encircle round his waist and pull him closer, all the while their tongues were fighting for dominance.

Harry didn't know how long they were kissing for but when they finally broke apart he could see Draco's lips were swollen and his hair was mussed.

"Unbelievable, your hair doesn't look any different despite the fact I've been pulling at that for half an hour." Malfoy said incredulously. Harry just grinned.

They left the classroom and went their separate ways, arranging to meet up the next evening for similar activities. Their parting kiss dissolved from being short and sweet to a five minute make out against the wall but eventually the two boys broke apart and went their separate ways.

"Definitely rather be at Hogwarts than in France." Harry heard Draco mutter and he grinned all the way back to Gryffindor tower. It was going to be a good year.

The End

 _A/N Thanks for reading guys, I know it was short but I hope you enjoyed it. As ever please let me know your thoughts, I love to hear them and/or any ideas you've had for fics you want into writing._


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